Dabrowski/Xu rebound to take doubles crown

Garbriela Dabrowski and Yifan Xu are the 2017 Connecticut Open doubles champions after fighting back to deny established Australian duo, Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua.

The No.4 seeds prevailed 3-6, 6-3, 10-8 to secure their second title together.

Trailing a set and with games on serve at 4-3, the No.4 seeds broke on their fourth opportunity and served out the set to send the final into a match tie-break.

From there, it was the Australians who started with more authority, racing to 3-0, and 6-3 before dropping seven of the last nine points.

“It was a really close match so we’re really happy to come out with the win and get some more matches this week under our belt heading into the US Open so thank you so much for being here to witness all of it,” Dabrowski said.

“It’s been a lot of fun. We’ve had some ups and downs but we’re in it for the long haul so thank you so much to you [Xu] and also to our support team who’s been with us pretty much all year round.”

It marked the Canadian-Chinese tandem’s second title together having won the Miami Open in their first tournament as a pairing in April.

This was only the second time they had progressed past a quarter-final in nine events together.

The two teams had met once before, in the quarter-finals in Strasbourg, where Barty and Dellacqua won in a match tie-break en route to the title.

The Australians were searching for their fourth title of the season having won on hard court already in Kuala Lumpur, on clay in Strasbourg and on grass in Birmingham.

“Firstly congrats to the girls. It’s good preparation for both of us heading into the US Open but well played today,” Barty said.

“To Case, my partner, we’ve had a great year mate and I look forward to one more slam this year and hopefully we can have a deep run.”

Dabrowski and Xu will now head to New York City looking to pass the third round at a Grand Slam together for the first time.

Barty and Dellacqua finished runner-up in three of the four Grand Slam finals in 2013, including the US Open.